On Writing

It's a shame to borrow from a writer who I consider a prolific and entertaining writer. Still, I'm remiss if I insinuated that his works greatly influenced me.  Yet, I admire his work, what little of it I read. The first story I remember was "Apt Pupil" which disturbed me so much when I learned that a writer could not only get into a reader's head; but, make him think things the one would never have conceived to have thought.  I admired it so much that I read one other, "It."  In it, I searched it for the secret to S.K.'s ability to imbue words with so much power. While I believe I found that secret, I'm not sure I could ever make use of it, and certainly not in the same way.  It is my opinion; however, one other author used similar techniques in a different, more esoteric way. "The Spire" by William Golding.  I'll leave it to the reader to discover the secret independently.

I think it should go without saying that some of the best works of SciFi and Fantasy were by Marion Zimmer Bradley and the "Darkover" novels.  With that said, I'm almost ashamed to admit I've read and enjoyed Piers Anthony.  But, we all have to start somewhere. 

The first Science Fiction book I can remember reading was in the third grade.  I believe it was Isaac Asimov's "The Rings of Saturn."  I was told it was a bit heady for a 3rd grader.  But what I really remember most was how much I enjoyed it.  At the beginning of the year, I remember the school putting me into a remedial reading program, saying I had comprehension problems.  At eight years old, I'm not sure I even had a clue what that was, but I do recall this problem was determined by a test they gave me when I read the poem "Jack and Jill." I made too many presumptions about what was going on in the story; I can almost remember what that was.  It had something to do with what Jack thought about Jill when she came tumbling after rather than only stating the facts.  

Whatever my problem was, after 3 months of intensely reading boxes of laminated and brightly colored story sheets, complete with tests, I had passed, reading the entire course in one school year.  When I finished, I devoured Asimov's "Rings of Saturn" and remember clearly the librarian commenting on my reading at the high school level.   I even understood what she meant!  That was the start of a life of reading that continues to this day.

But, the first book that really made an impression on me was written in green ink, "Shadow Castle" by Marian Cockrell.  There was something magical about it which I later discovered to be Fantasy!  Trying to fuel that, I remember my parents grumbling about how much it cost for the weekly readers and the books the school sold to raise money.  Around the same time, I got a book that almost ruined me.  I still have nightmares about it.  Not often, mind you, but I think it creeps in now and then just to taunt me.  Don't laugh, but "Alice in Wonderland" made an even bigger impression; just the wrong one.  I remember reading it like a passerby staring at a car wreck.  Something about the baby, the pig and the cook just won't leave my subconscious alone.  I probably should reread it just to destimulate the memory.  I only came to appreciate it after my Uncle bought me a coloring book with puzzles.  I still love logic puzzles, which always remind me of my father.  I never realized it until much later in life; but, he often passed on his gems of wisdom in the form of logic puzzles.  "Did you know there are two kinds of people in this world?  Those that divide everything into two categories; and those that don't.  Does there exist a man such that when he drinks, everybody drinks?"  My father loved his cocktails.  My earliest memory consists of things like "What's blue and goes ding dong?"  Of course, the answer is "a blue ding dong", and the same with all colors except red, which, is a fire engine.  What a card!  I wish I'd gotten to know the man all his friends knew; unfortunately, cancer took him at 65 years of age.

But I digress.  I believe the subject was "On writing," so, as one might expect, I'm a writer.  Amateur, of course, I've never been paid to write anything; unless one counts technical papers, which I don't.  I've been told since as far back as I can remember that I'll never be able to write Fiction.  I'm starting to believe this is true, and so naturally, my most ardent desire is to write Fiction, Science Fiction.  I'm working on that right now, as a matter of fact.  Well, there's the rub; I'm writing this right now.  I haven't touched my fictional writing in almost a week.  I'd like to say it's writer's block.  But, like this, I always have writer's block, but it doesn't stop me from writing.  For some reason, it's just never Fiction... go figure.  If I could only just stop comparing myself to my favorite authors...

Update: 2023-06-17:  I am about 25% of the way through writing my book.  My wife, an avid reader of 2-3 books a week, says it's excellent, and I must finish it.  

She also said I cannot tell you anything about the story.